FAQ
General What is OpenArena? OpenArena is an open-source content package for Quake III Arena licensed under the GNU General Public License v2 (GPLv2), effectively creating a free stand-alone game. You do not need Quake III Arena to play this game. Where can I get the game ? *'The Official Website' *'BitTorrent' *'Download Mirrors' What are the system requirements? These are the minimum: * Pentium II 233MHz / AMD K6-2 300MHz or equally powerful processor * 64MB of system memory * OpenGL supported video card with 16MB of video memory. (Voodoo Banshee, TNT and up) * 300MB of hard drive space The game in theory can run on Pentium 100's with a Voodoo2, but don't expect much performance over 20fps and the loading time to be less than a minute. For some infos about compatibility with some GPUs, you may take a look to the VidCompat page. Is there a manual for the game? Can I help expanding it? Yes. Check this wiki site. In particular, there is a section called "Manual", look there. This is a wiki, so you can contribute to expand this site! Everyone can! You can edit the pages, even without registering a username! Anyway, registration will give you a single username to use also in many other wikis hosted by Wikia.com. You can read the definition of a Wiki on Wikipedia, if you wish. If you want to read some suggestions about how you could help this site, take a look to the WikiWorks page: you will find a list of pages that should be created and of pages that should be updated. It exists also an optional in-game manual, that you can install if you wish: take a look to Manual#In-game help. This game is too violent i mean bloody stuff and body meat pieces flying i can't watch :\ Type this in the console (pull it down with Shift+Esc): /com_blood 0 Configuration files and automatic downloaded files path By default, the original Quake III Arena placed the configuration and autodownloaded files under its own installation folder (although the +set fs_homepath '' OS command line parameter allowed to use a different folder). ''ioquake3 changed the default behavior, automatically using a different folder for each user of the machine, and OpenArena follows this. For short, in the documentation we may simply call this folder "your '''homepath' folder". Continue reading the following sections for more info. Where are the configuration files saved? The exact location of the "homepath" folder differs from operating system. Linux and the like: ~/.openarena/ Mac: ~/Library/Application Support/OpenArena/ Windows: %APPDATA%\OpenArena\ (just use "Run" and copy it in) (under Windows XP it brings to C:\Documents and settings\username\Application data\OpenArena\ and under Windows Vista or Windows 7, to C:\Users\username\Appdata\Roaming\OpenArena). Hint: "%appdata%" is just an environment variable that can be used as a ''shortcut to reach the real folder. "Application data" (WinXP) or "Appdata" (WinVista/7) folder is usually an "hidden" folder: you may need to set Windows to show hidden folders, or to use the %appdata% shortcut, in order to reach it. Note: q3config.cfg (main configuration file) and some other configuration/log files are stored in a separate subfolder for each mod (for example, %APPDATA%\OpenArena\missionpack for The Mission Pack, or %APPDATA%\OpenArena\baseoa for the "normal" OpenArena). Screenshots and demos are stored in subfolders under each mod's folder, automatically created when needed. Where are autodownloaded files saved? Only .pk3 files can be autodownloaded (thus, no server configuration or mod help files) and they will be stored in subfolders of the following ("homepath" folder): Linux and the like: ~/.openarena/ Mac: ~/Library/Application Support/OpenArena/ Windows: %APPDATA%\OpenArena\ For example, autodownloaded files related to the main game will be stored in a subfolder called "baseoa". There will be a separate folder for each mod, the same as for your configuration files for that mod. Notice that, even if playing with a mod, it could autodownload some files also to "baseoa" folder, for example additional maps. OpenArena searches for files in both your installation and configuration folders, thus, if you wish, (when the program is closed) you can manually move autodownloaded pk3s from the autodownload path to the same path under the installation directory, to make them available to all the users of the machine. If you begin to autodownload a file, but abort the operation (ESC key), then you will find a .tmp file that contains the partially downloaded file (example: OpenArena\baseoa\newmap.pk3.tmp)... you should be able to delete it with no problem, even without closing OpenArena. Even if you don't delete it, if it will be needed in future, its download will re-start from the beginning anyway (download resuming is not supported). Can I change the directory to where configuration and autodownloaded files are saved? Yes, you can specify a different "homepath" folder. Start the game with "+set fs_homepath PATH" from the OS command line to select where the game may write files. Replace PATH with the location to store in. Please be sure your user has got write permissions for the chosen folder. An example, under Microsoft Windows, could be "openarena.exe +set fs_homepath c:\test\oaconf": in this example, your configuration file will be created as c:\test\oaconf\baseoa\q3config.cfg. You cannot change fs_homepath after starting the program, you have to set it at launch. Tip: you can create a shortcut that automatically launches the game with that option at the end of the command line (please refer to your Operating System documentation, if you need help). If you launch the game again without the fs_homepath parameter, it will return to use default path again. In other words, you will need to use the command line option each time because it is not a permanent change: fs_homepath is not stored into q3config.cfg file, and if you think to it for a while, it's perfectly logic, because the program cannot read q3config.cfg before knowing what's its path. Thus, a customized shortcut would then be useful. You can use PATH = ./ to store in subfolders directly under the install directory (like the original Quake III Arena did). This means that all the users of the computer will share the same configuration and autodownloaded files, unless they have completely separate installation folders. The autodownloaded pk3 files will be put together with the original and manually downloaded files. Usage: "+set fs_homepath ./". How do I install it under Linux ? See LinuxInstall How do I install it under FreeBSD ? Use the port. OpenArena is available through the FreeBSD ports system at games/openarena. Configuration for things like SMP support, SDL, OpenAL, choosing which binaries you want built and other options is handled through an ncurses-based menu. Note that the OpenArena binaries have different names under FreeBSD. The binaries were renamed from their IOQuake3-derived names in order to prevent conflicts with other ports (namely, games/ioquake3). The binaries are now openarena for the base client, openarena-smp for the SMP client and openarenaded for the dedicated server. The port uses the pak files from the Windows/Linux distribution, so there shouldn't be any problems playing online. If you desire to play OpenArena under FreeBSD without using the port, it is possible to run the Linux OpenArena binaries using FreeBSD's Linux ABI. The information provided about it in the FreeBSD Handbook should be sufficient to install and run OA but here's a more OA-specific walkthrough. The first steps are identical than for Linux. First, grab the tarball and exract it : fetch http://download.tuxfamily.net/cooker/openarena/rel070/oa070.zip sudo mkdir /usr/games/openarena sudo mv oa070.zip /usr/games/openarena cd /usr/games/openarena sudo unzip oa070.zip sudo rm oa070.zip However, when you try to run it : $ /usr/games/openarena/ioquake3-smp.i386 /usr/games/openarena/ioquake3-smp.i386: error while loading shared libraries: libSDL-1.2.so.0: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory So you need to get libSDL (and a few other libs too). There are two methods for that. You can either copy them from an existing Linux system or download the Debian or Ubuntu (or any other Linux distro) packages for them and extract the libraries (*.so.*) files from them. Alternatively, I've put all of them online. I've also written a shell script to automate the installation of the libs, if you want to use it, do : fetch http://fkraiem.free.fr/oalibs/oalibs.sh chmod +x oalibs.sh sudo ./oalibs.sh Otherwise, you can do it manually. Whatever the method you used to get the libs was, when you have your SO file, you need to copy it to the correct place, in the file hierarchy under the /compat/linux directory. For example, in Linux (Debian Etch), the libSDL file is located at /usr/lib/libSDL-1.2.so.0.11.0 and /usr/lib/libSDL-1.2.so.0 is a symlink to it, so we do : sudo cp libSDL-1.2.so.0.11.0 /compat/linux/usr/lib cd /compat/linux/usr/lib sudo ln -s libSDL-1.2.so.0.11.0 libSDL-1.2.so.0 And the same goes for each other library OA asks for when you try to run it. Optionnally, you can make a symlink to the game binary somewhere in your $PATH, for example : sudo ln -s /usr/games/openarena/ioquake3-smp.i386 /usr/local/bin/openarena Which will let you run the game by just typing openarena How to change the video resolution to widescreen 1680x1050, 1280x800 or anything else ? See also: Manual/Graphic options#Resolution Since 0.7.6 you should be able to pick any resolution your hardware supports. The information here is for 0.7.1 and older. Edit the config file (it is created after first launch) : vi ~/.openarena/baseoa/q3config.cfg Mac users ~/Library/Application Support/OpenArena/baseoa/q3config.cfg Windows user notepad %APPDATA%\OpenArena\baseoa\q3config.cfg You need to find and modify these lines (resolution may vary) : seta r_customheight "1024" seta r_customwidth "1600" seta r_mode "3" And change them to (adapt resolution) : seta r_customheight "1050" seta r_customwidth "1680" seta r_mode "-1" Here r_mode "-1" stands for "custom settings", whereas the default value depends on your system and stands for the performance level. Alternatively, you can type the following in the game's console (adapt your resolution) : r_customheight 1050 r_customwidth 1680 r_mode -1 vid_restart How can I use maps, models, mods made for Quake 3 Arena? The installation is nearly the same as in Q3A. Simply copy the .pk3 files (of the map/model/etc) to your OpenArena/baseoa/ directory. Mods don't go under OpenArena/baseoa/: they must have their own folder, like OpenArena/modname/. Anyway, you could experience some compatibility problems: please read the following sections. Maps designed for Quake 3 Maps designed for Quake 3 and Team Arena should work. Their custom textures should appear exactly like under Q3, while they will look a bit different where they used original Quake 3 textures (that have been replaced with "free" ones in OpenArena, that can be similar but not identical, for copyright reasons). Total Quake 3 texture replacement work is not completed yet (it is a goal expected for OA 0.9.0), thus some textures are still missing (you will see black and white squares instead); in the meanwhile, they exist unofficial third-party "q3a2oa" texture compatibility packs (not created by the OA team) that add more textures, some of them with nice quality and some with low quality (just to not have the black and white squares). Some "black and white squares" may also be caused by incompatible or missing shaders. Other differences could be like some types of fog with a different density, caused by more or less different shaders. You can find many maps designed for Quake 3 and Team Arena around the web: for example, LvL - Q3A Custom Maps is a big archive of them. For some third-party maps that have been tested with OpenArena, take a look to the Quality maps and Third Party Maps pages. Mods designed for Quake 3 Mods need a subfolder at "OpenArena/" instead of "Quake 3 Arena/". Sometimes, mods include a Windows batch file (.bat) to start them instead of using the "mods" menu: in this case, you can modify the batch file to launch openarena.exe instead of quake3.exe. Please read Manual/Using Mods and ModCompat for more information and the sub-pages of the latter to know about the results of compatibily tests done with each mod and tips on how to troubleshoot some problems. Models and bots designed for Quake 3 To be able to successfully use a model it must come complete with all graphics, skin files and animations and not depend on using Quake 3 Arena model resources. As a rough guide any .pk3 model file over 1 Mb may be compliant. If it does comply then you will probably have a character you can then access. A simple "skin" designed to fit around a baseq3 model, instead, may be shown if there is an OpenArena model with the right name, but the graphics may be more or less messed up. A problem comes with the bots desiged for Quake 3. Often, player models come with related bots, and you may be able to use a character model for yourself with no problem, but having many error messages in console (like "Weapon number out of range") or strange behaviors (like it not moving when it does not see you, or having it using only the machinegun and no other weapon) if its related bot enters the game (if you add it manually or it is automatically added by bot_minplayers feature). The problem is that Quake 3 bot files aren't fully compatible with OpenArena up until 0.8.5, so you should get a patch from this link to fix these errors. With this pk3, almost every error will be fixed, only some chat messages will result with an error. The next version will include this fix. If a bot searches for a model name that is not included in OpenArena, the default model (Sarge/Grism) will be used instead. I want to contribute! Attention, this project needs open content! Your contribution must be public domain or GPLv2. Please take a look at the Developer FAQ for more information on how to contribute. PS: You can also help OpenArena by promoting it: play it online, talk of it with your friends, add reviews and/or links to it on your site/blog. You can find some banners in the Artwork page. You can really help OpenArena! HEY I recognize some of these maps from... Quake! They are probably direct conversions of the .MAP files released under GNU GPL v2 by John Romero in October 2006. http://rome.ro/2006_10_01_archive.html I have no 3D card / No OpenGL acceleration ! Try running the game with this added in the command line (remove backslash and carriage return) : +set r_allowSoftwareGL 1 +set r_mode 0 +set r_lodbias 4 \ +set r_textureMode GL_NEAREST_MIPMAP_NEAREST +set r_picmip 2 +set r_vertexLight 1 Beware, it'll require some beefy processor for it to be playable though What version am I running In Debian based systems like Ubuntu and Freespire the openarena command may not tell you the version number. You may want to try this and observer the file name: : sudo apt-cache show openarena |grep ^Filename How can I find a friend of mine that is currently playing online? The integrated server browser (see Manual/Multiplayer), at the moment does not include a "search friend" feature. But this is not a big problem, since there are some external tools (external server browsers) that allow to search for a certain nickname (or part of it, for example a clan tag) over all the active internet servers (those servers that are published on master server, correctly running "dedicated 2" mode). Please take a look to Servers#Tools. What are framerate dependent/''fixed framerate''/''accurate'' physics? What are Vanilla and CPM physics? How can I change gravity/''speed''/''knockback''? They are different aspects, but have some relationships. Framerate dependent physics, fixed framerate physics and accurate physics are different methods used by the game to manage players' positions, that affect gravity and movement. The server admin selects what kind of physics apply. Since OpenArena 0.8.5, "accurate" physics is the default one. Please read Game physics page for more info; Tweak#Tweaking online gaming parameters, and Manual/Graphic options#Framerate are related, too. Vanilla is a term sometimes used to refer to the classic physics and control responses provided by the standard game. CPM physics (the name comes from a Q3 mod) are modified physics rules and control responses provided by some mods. See also Game physics#Vanilla and CPM physics. To manually change gravity, knockback and players' speed, there are the server-side g_gravity, g_knockback and g_speed variables. For more info, see Special game options#Game physics. Troubleshooting Error message "Client/Server mismatch BaseOA-1/BaseQ3-1" Enable automatic downloading by going to Setup then Game Options and clicking to turn Automatic Downloading to on. I get the error message "Invalid Game Folder" There are two possibilities: You do not run the same version as the server. This error should rarely happen with 0.7.7 or later. Other possibility: Either you or the server has modified files in the pk3 file. The game crashed, and it left my screen too bright! You can try solving this by using LordHavoc's setgamma tool to reset the brightness to normal. You can find it here Brightness controls do not work in windowed mode If you switch from fullscreen to windowed mode, brightness controls stop working in windowed mode (while continue working in fullscreen mode). If you start the game directly in windowed mode, brightess controls will work (until you switch to fullscreen and then to windowed mode again). Thus, the workaround is to switch to windowed mode, then completely quit OpenArena and launch the game again: it will start in windowed mode, with brightness controls working. This is a problem with ioquake3 and/or SDL, that has not been fixed yet (time of this writing: OpenArena 0.8.8). Maybe they alrady fixed some problems under Linux, but under Windows it is still broken. Maybe you could ask them to look into it again, on ioquake3 Bugzilla or SDL Bugzilla. It does not start at all, no error message either. *Windows, Mac OS X 10.3 : install OpenAL libraries *Linux : install libopenal0 The game switches from fullscreen to windowed mode and the mouse becomes unusable Problem noticed using Linux. See "fifth solution" in case of strange behavior on Windows. *1) First Solution: Make certain that you have disabled your screen saver. *2) Second solution: If OA switches to windowed mode after a few minutes of gameplay. Try to disable Compiz or any 3D environment if you use one. (see fourth solution) *3) Third solution: If you can't get your mouse working correctly after OA switched to windowed mode for whatever reason, try to follow these steps: :#stay in windowed mode :#make OA window active with alt+tab if necessary :#show the console (with Shift+Esc or the needed keys according to your system) :#click outside OA to have focus on a window different than the OA one :#click back in OA to make it active :#switch to fullscreen with ALT+Enter :#mask the console, your mouse should work ;) *4) Fourth Solution: (if you find that Compiz is causing the issue) Write a script to disable Compiz, start OpenArena, then re-enable Compiz once OA is shut down, so you can continue to have the cool effects for the rest of your session. To do so, open any text editor (such as gedit) and type the following: #!/bin/bash metacity --replace & cd /{directory of installation}/ ./openarena.i386 compiz --replace & The above is only an example, and will need to be modified to fit your configuration. Where is says {directory of installation}, type the path from the root of your Filesystem, to, and including, the openarena directory. For example: /home/mark/Documents/openarena-0.8.1/ The line below may also need to be modified IF you use a 64 bit system. If you do, the second last line should read: ./openarena.x86_64 If you have a 32 bit system, leave it as: ./openarena.i386 Save the document anywhere. It should be recognized as a shell script. If you use an operating system that supports running scripts as executables, (such as Ubuntu), simply right click the file, click properties, go to the permissions tab, and check 'run as executable'. Then all you have to do is run the script, and OA will run like the issue never existed in the first place. You can also create a launcher for the script. Then all you need to do, is click the launcher, and OA runs perfectly! ;) Note: If you cannot set the file to run as an executable, then you need to run it in a terminal. Slight performance increases have also been noted with Compiz off. *5) Fifth solution: A mouse response problem might also occur on Windows, in case the DPI (dots per inch) setting is modified to change the font sizes. This causes the mouse to move a LOT in a weird direction every milimeter you carefully move it, making it totally unplayable. To change this under Windows XP, click start, then Run, type desk.cpl and hit enter (alternatively, you can simply right-click in an empty section of your desktop and then select "properties"), goto the settings tab, click advanced and set the DPI to 96. You might need to reboot for this to take effect. In Windows Vista and 7 you have to go to your desktop, rightclick some empty space, click graphical options or preferences (not sure), and click the DPI setting on the left of the window. This should also be the default 96DPI. *6) Sixth solution: check your settings in Setup -> Controls -> Look menu (e.g "free look", "mouse speed", "invert mouse" options). I can't look around using my mouse See also I can't look around using my mouse section above. Sometimes you get in the game (maybe after changing some video settings) and experiece that you cannot look around with the mouse anymore (moving it only makes you "strafe" a bit): in this case, you can try pressing the ESC key (to open the ESC menu) and then again to close it. If that does not work, try pressing control keys on mouse and keyboard (jump, zoom, fire...). Or you may use command console and enter /in_restart command. You can also try the "third solution" above: something similar (alt-tabbing away and then returning to OpenArena) may help you also under a Microsoft Windows environment. Another thing: be sure you have "free look" option enabled (in Setup -> Controls -> Look menu): if it is disabled, you will be able to use the mouse to look up and down only when pressing the "mouse look" key, too. Messages are overflowing in my console and they're about bots ! Try typing : seta bot_enable 0 And restart the level. There are no servers in the server list! Possible because there are no servers running for your version. If there are any servers listed here and you do not see any in the server list in the game and you are using the latest version of the game (current version is ), you may need to configure certain firewall settings to allow OpenArena (see also Manual/Multiplayer). The game isn't as pretty as the screenshots :( See also: Manual/Graphic options I enabled some extra detail settings in the console; some of them may not be available in the menu: * r_ext_texture_filter_anisotropic 4 - Enables anistropic filter. It's VERY noticable if you use high resolutions and view detailed characters (especially Kyonshi). Makes things a lot less blurry. * r_flares 1 - Enables flares, which glow around map's light sources. Maps compiled with q3map2 with -flares may have flares as do maps compiled with q3map. * cg_shadows 2 - Enables stencil shadows. r_stencilBits needs to be set to 8 for it to show up properly. See Manual/Graphic options#Shadows. * r_detailTextures 1 - Enables detail texturing, which scatter maps and such adding a convincing texture effect to rid some of the filtering blur. This is usually enabled by default, but for some odd reason you don't have it set to 1, set it to 1. Be warned that these options require a much beefier system with a fourth-generation video card (Geforce, Radeon) to run well. I get the error message "could not load OpenGL subsystem" *be sure you installed your video card driver correctly *some current settings in OpenArena may be incompatible with your graphics card. Make a backup of the file q3config.cfg and delete it in your OpenArena folder. *if you are executing it under Windows, be sure not to use Microsoft graphic drivers. Use drivers from your vendor. ATI NVIDIA Error message "error while loading shared libraries: libopenal.so.0 ..." You need to install the libraries for OpenAL / OpenAudio Language. In Debian/Ubuntu you can do this with the command: sudo apt-get install libopenal0 else apt-get install libopenal0a. If there is none of those libraries, use sudo apt-get install libopenal1, go to the command console and type s_alDriver = "libopenal.so" Error message "error while loading shared libraries: libvorbisfile.so.3...." debian: sudo apt-get install libvorbisfile3 be sure you have unstable repository in your sources.list. OpenArena starts fine but the graphics will sporadically become distorted and the text may be garbled The walls and ceilings, for example, will become discoloured though the game will still be playable. When this happens you may also noticed that distorted graphics will "seep" out of OA and appear on your desktop. If you know why this happens and/or have a workaround please explain it here. Thanks! Something like this (walls were black, text was unreadable) happens to me. I solved it by turning Compiz off. Response: You could try /vid_restart if it happens. I have that bound to a key in case something goes awry. When I launch a Mod, the sound stops working This problem has been noticed with OpenArena 0.8.5 and Microsoft Windows XP, but more versions could be affected. It happens that, if you start OpenArena and then use the "Mods" menù and launch any mod, the sound stops working at all. You can workaround in various ways: * Launch the mod from the menu (the sound will probably go away), then type \snd_restart in your console (the sound should return). or * Launch the mod directly from OS' command prompt, batch file or modified link (for example openarena.exe +set fs_game missionpack), not from the "Mods" menù. or * Install and enable OpenAL sound library. Note: it may seem enabled from the "Sound" menù, but it could be not installed (please read here). This problem seems to occur only with the standard "SDL" sound driver (the one which is used if OpenAL is not installed or is disabled). Note: if you start the mod for the first time with OpenAL disabled, this setting will be saved into the mod's configuration file, so enabling it from OpenArena may not be enough; in that case, enable OpenAL also in the mod (use /s_useopenal 1 from console; many old mods may not have its option in the menu, so you have to use the console), quit to the Operating System and then launch OpenArena and the mod again. Voice chat (VoIP) not working Please check if you have OpenAL installed and enabled. Please read Voice chat to check if you have set the right settings. I cannot find any or some of the servers running inside my LAN Some basic tips: * Are you sure you selected "Local" from "Servers" option in "Multiplayer" menu? * Are you sure you selected the right filters, there? Try to set gametype "all", to enable "show full" and "show empty", and to disable "only humans" and "hide private"... * Are you sure your firewalls aren't blocking the needed processes/UDP ports on your clients or servers? * "Local" network scan finds only servers using UDP ports 27960, 27961, 27962 or 27963 (so, it will find max 4 OA server processes for each IP). However, if you know that there is a server within your LAN that uses a different port, you can still connect to it, manually specifing its IP and port using "Specify" button or \connect command (for example \connect 192.168.0.200:27970). Fore more informations, please read Manual/Multiplayer. Yesterday everything worked correctly, but today I experience strange problems Note: "Yesterday" is just an example, it could also be "two days ago" or "this morning". "Problems" is quite generic, so search in this page for more specific problems. Remember to scroll the command console log (with pageup/pagedwn keys), and search for errors. The log should be also in the file "stderr.txt" in your installation folder. If the game begins to stop working in the right way, obviously you can try to close it (\quit command or terminate the process from your operating system) and start it again, or to reboot you machine. However, if the problem does not disappear, you have to know that common reasons that can make OpenArena no more working correctly, after having worked, include problems with the configuration files or with additional stuff (usually autodownloaded pk3 files). So, things you could try include: * Check the files in your "baseoa" folder (and/or the folder of a specific mod, like "missionpack"); show their creation/last modify dates, and check if there are some pk3 files added recently. If yes, temporarily move them somewhere else (like in a temp folder on your desktop), launch the game and check what happens. Problems with "autodownloaded" files (that are usually stored in a separate path than the installation folder) happen, but sometimes even new stuff you added "manually" may cause problems. Autodownload is a very useful feature, but sometimes some additional pk3 files may cause problems. See also: Where are autodownloaded files saved?, Manual/Automatic downloading, Manual/Using mods#Notes for Server Administrators * Rename your q3config.cfg file, thus it will be recreated when you will launch the game again (losing your personal settings!), or restore it from a previous backup. So you should be able to identify if the problem is with that file, and then work in this direction. See also: Where are the configuration files saved? I can't find an answer to solve my problem! If doesn't help you, you can try in the forums and their technical section. See also * Manual * DeveloperFAQ * Tweak * VidCompat - Infos about compatibilty with some GPUs Category:Manual